Envoy

From Warbirth Wiki

In game

Explorer icon old.png
Envoy — Vital statistics
Envoy

Early game unit meant to collect resources from Ruins, and to scout the map. Is unarmed, but can create Informants and cloaks when not moving.

  • Strong versus nothing.
  • Weak versus military units, especially cavalry.
Prereq: Build time HP LOS Attack Attack speed Movement
speed
18.1s
(280t)
345 11 22 1.6s
(25t)
25
Cost Created from Armour Weapon range Specialty
Base Ramp Pop
Timber.jpg : 180
Food.jpg : 180
Food.jpg : 1
2 Outpost.jpg 9 0–9
  • Is cloaked when not moving.
  • +2 LOS per Science level researched.
  • Illyrian, Bach Viet and Phoenician Envoys gather more resources per Ruin touched.
  • 500 Craft.

Overall strategy

Unlike the vanilla game, where Explorers and Scouts are capable of removing Informers and killing Spies outright, the Envoy in Warbirth is a different sort of scout unit. Envoys are strictly meant to explore the map early on, and to recover resources from Ruins, and can also infiltrate Informants into enemy units and structures. Having said that, they are trained not from a Barracks, but rather from the Sentry Post, and are also trained more slowly than normal.

Envoys are meant mainly for offensive information operations — use them to lock down resources from Ruins and to spy on the enemy, but do not rely on them to spot hidden units for you. Only Sentry Posts, alongside with Priests, Spies, red Patriots and the Imperial Palace Wonder can do those for you. If you have a fear of being infiltrated by your enemy's Envoys, create a body of cavalry and spread its members across your cities — Envoys are slow and easily intercepted, especially by cavalry units with a ranged attack.

Unit summary

Notes

This unit has several different designs owning to the availability of unit slots. As of January 2022, Age of Empires uses all seven vanilla skins for Explorers from the vanilla game, including the following skins:

It is likely that a new skin will be required for Middle Eastern factions, such as Babylon or Mitanni.

History

Envoys are agents of a government dispatched on diplomatic missions. George Washington served as an envoy to the French with the mission of determining their military strength in the Ohio River Valley and letting the French know that the British wanted them to retreat from the area. He was leading a ragtag group of soldiers to support the construction of Fort Necessity in the valley when his command ran across a small French army. Washington's men killed 10 Frenchmen, including another French envoy carrying a message to the British. Killing an envoy was a breach of military etiquette. This brief exchange was the first in what became the French and Indian War.